The subject matter of the invention concerns a milk tube, a milking unit comprising a milk-collecting component and at least two milk tubes which are connected to the milk-collecting component, a teat cup comprising a teat cup sleeve in which a teat rubber is arranged, and a milk tube which is connected to the teat rubber, and also a teat cup cluster comprising a milk-collecting component, at least two teat cups which each have a teat cup sleeve and a teat rubber arranged in the teat cup sleeve, and milk tubes which connect the teat cups to the milk-collecting component.
Although the invention is described below in conjunction with the milking of cows, it is pointed out that the subject matter of the invention is suitable in particular for use when milking sheep, goats, llamas, camels, dromedaries, buffalo, mares, donkeys, yaks and other lactating animals. The invention can be used both in robot-assisted milking installations and also in fully automatic, semi-automatic and conventional milking installations.
In order to milk an animal, the teat cups have to be attached to the teats of an animal. The attaching of the teat cups may take place with robot assistance. It is also known for teat cups to be attached manually to the teats of the animal. The teat cups have a teat rubber which is arranged in a teat cup sleeve. The teat rubber is connected to a milk tube.
Embodiments are known in which the milk tube is connected directly to a milk transport line, i.e. without the interconnection of a milk-collecting component.
Teat cup clusters comprising teat cups and a milk-collecting component are known. WO 01/84913 discloses a teat cup cluster which has a milk-collecting component. The milk-collecting component has connectors connected to milk tubes. The milk tubes are connected at their other ends to teat cups. In the teat cup cluster configuration disclosed by WO 01/84913 A1, the milk tubes are designed as wavy tubes. Further embodiments of teat cup clusters are known, for example, from the publications DE-A1-102 12 161, WO-A1-00/76299 and WO-A1-00/76300.
The teat cup clusters described in these publications have collecting components which have connectors to which the milk tubes are connected.
DE-A1-102 07 955 discloses another embodiment of a teat cup cluster. The teat cup cluster comprises a milk-collecting component and milk tubes. The one end of each milk tube is connected to the milk-collecting component and the other end to a teat cup. The milk-collecting component has openings. An end region of a milk tube is introduced into each opening thus producing a fluid-tight connection between the milk tube and the milk-collecting component.
The milk tubes are connected to the milk-collecting component in such a manner that a defined kinking is achieved. The kinking is intended essentially to ensure that the milk tube is sealed when the teat cups are not attached to the teats. For this purpose, according to DE-A1-102 07 955, a kink element is provided with a bending edge which is spaced apart from the connecting region of the milk tube and defines a bending region in the milk tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,041 discloses a bent milk tube by means of which the stressing of the milk tube at the connector of the milk-collecting component is intended to be reduced.
It is known that the physiognomy of the udder, in particular of the teats, may be formed very differently from type of animal to type of animal, from breed to breed and from animal to animal. It is also known that, for example, the distances of the front teats from each other are different than the distances between the rear teats. Account is taken of this fact by means of appropriate matching of the distances between the connectors to the milk-collecting component. Furthermore, it is known that teat cups may have a different design or weight in order better to be matched to the animals.